Boilers bounce top seed at Marseilles

A number one seed has yet to win the Marseilles Holiday Tournament. The Kewanee Boilermakers made sure that streak remained intact Monday night.

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By Mike Landis

The Daily Register - Harrisburg, IL

By Mike Landis

Posted Jan. 1, 2014 at 12:34 PM

By Mike Landis

Posted Jan. 1, 2014 at 12:34 PM

MARSEILLES

A number one seed has yet to win the Marseilles Holiday Tournament. The Kewanee Boilermakers made sure that streak remained intact Monday night.

The third-seeded Boilers rode 25 points from tournament MVP Donovan Oliver and 24 from Jared Nimrick to knock off top-seeded Putnam County 84-69 in the championship game of the fifth-annual Marseilles holiday hoops gathering.

Oliver and Nimrick led the Boilers to a fast start, but Kewanee coach Steve Salisbury knew a total team effort was needed to handle the Panthers and senior standout Harold Fay.

"We kind of thought our bench would help us win this game and I thought our bench was huge with the foul trouble we got in," said Salisbury. "Our bench played super. They helped us get this win for sure."

Nimrick and Oliver combined for 17 points in the first quarter staking the Boilers to a 22-20 lead. Nimrick drilled three 3-pointers early as the Boilers set the tempo to their liking.

"He hadn't shot the ball well in this tournament yet and I told him before the game that tonight was going to be his night," said Salisbury of Nimrick. "He came out and hit three or four early for us, and that was huge to open up the middle of the floor for Donovan."

The Panthers pulled even at 22-all to start the second quarter, capping a run of eight straight points. Kewanee responded with a 13-1 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Ryan Hicks to give the Boilers a double-digit lead.

Oliver gave Kewanee its biggest lead of the night, 42-28, when he grabbed a rebound and went coast-to-coast for a three-point play.

"That was our game plan, to try to push the ball up the floor and get it to Donovan in the middle and let him create something," said Salisbury.

Kewanee led 43-31 at the half and withstood some foul trouble in the third quarter. Oliver picked up his third foul at the 5:47 mark with Kewanee on top 47-36. The Boilers not only maintained the lead with Oliver on the bench, but extended the margin to 61-47 going into the final eight minutes.

"When Donovan is out the game, I've still got some seniors that can really play," said Salisbury. "When he's out of the game, we rely a little bit more on our defense. When he was in foul trouble we kept the lead and actually extended it by a couple of points. That was huge."

Putnam County was able to slice the deficit to 74-65 with just under three minutes to play, but John Moraski slammed the door on the Panthers with some solid free-throw shooting down the stretch.